1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to chain driven vehicles. In particular, it relates to cleaners for removing accumulations of dirt and debris from vehicle chains and sprockets, while operating. More particularly, it relates to a bicycle chain cleaner for scraping dirt and debris from a bicycle chain while pedaling.
2. Background Art
Chain driven vehicles are well known for use in commercial, agricultural, recreational, and competitive activities. Off-road chain driven vehicles, which have gained wide acceptance in the industry, are often referred to as all-terrain-vehicles (“ATV”), motorcycles designed for trail and motocross, and mountain bicycles. While motor cycles and ATV's employ the use of transmissions to modify the gear ratios, with mountain bikes the gear ratios are manually changed using a derailleur system for moving the chain between sprockets.
The accumulation of dirt and debris on the chains of chain driven vehicles is a problem which is also well known in the art. This problem is exaggerated where such vehicles are designed primarily for off-road use. As a result, bicycle accessories have been designed to address the accumulation problem including various certain configurations of brush type cleaners which are adapted for cleaning the chains either before or after use, and cleaning solutions, which incorporate degreasing solvents and brushes contained within a plastic housing.
One such example discloses a solvent, brush and housing modified for attachment to a bicycle for cleaning the chain during use. There, U.S. Pat. No. 8,181,747, to Feldstein, discloses a chain cleaner assembly for cleaning and lubricating the chain of a bicycle while pedaling. The apparatus includes a housing for enclosing the sprocket chain on all sides. The housing consists of a mutually connectable upper half-shell and a lower half-shell portions and a securement assembly which includes a mounting plate adapted to attach to a rear wheel quick disconnect of the bicycle. The housing is suspended from the sprocket chain and provides a funnel shaped solvent hopper, a hose connection to a compressed air supply, and an air knife adapted to direct high velocity air to impinge upon and thereby dry the sprocket chain.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,641,042, to Andrews, discloses a drive chain brush cleaner. There, an inverted coil brush assembly has an open coil structure with a long lead and can be threaded on and removed from a belt or chain. The tool is sufficiently elastic so that the axial hole (ID) through its center can be enlarged or contracted by axial elongation or compression of the tool. The tool and its use enable it to be used as a hand tool or as a component in a transmission.
While the foregoing cleaners offer some utility, in the first instance the cleaner assembly appears to be relatively complex in design, heavy, and would be difficult to avoid breaking while riding on trails with rocks, water, and fallen trees. Moreover, such a device would be difficult to maintain, not easily transportable, and would probably exhibit a relatively high degree of frictional force on the chain. The helical brush, of the second disclosure, while desirably simple in design does not appear suitable for use in retrofit applications with a derailleur system, would likely trap dirt and debris within the helical portion under off-road use conditions, and would also probably break under extreme off-road use. Therefore, what is needed is a pocket-sized chain cleaner which is simple in design, light weight, frictionless, easily installed in retrofit applications, or under actual trail riding conditions, and is low cost, but which efficiently scrubs accumulations of dirt and debris from the upper, lower and lateral surfaces of a chain when used under actual operating conditions. The present invention satisfies these needs.